130 killed in Pak rains, dam burst
Quetta, February 11
More than 130 persons have been killed across Pakistan in the heaviest rains in 16 years that caused a dam to burst, provincial officials said today.
Authorities rushed thousands of troops to join rescue operations in the remote south-western Baluchistan province, where some 20,000 people had been affected by the floods, said Mr Raziq Bugti, a government spokesman in the province said.

Commonwealth group asks Pervez to quitLondon, February 11Short of suspending Pakistan from its Councils once again, the Commonwealth today asked President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish one of the two offices he held
— army chief and presidentship.

In this picture released by the Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan’s ousted and exiled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (second from left) poses with another Pakistan’s
self-exiled Premier Benazir Bhutto after their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday. Asif Zardari (left), husband of Bhutto, and Sharif’s wife Kulsoom (right) are also seen in the picture. — AP/PTI
photo

Arthur Miller deadNew York, February 11
US playwright Arthur Miller, one of the giants of American literature, has died, his assistant said today.
He was 89. “Miller passed away at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, last night at 9:17 pm of congenital heart failure,” said Ms Julia Bolus, the playwright’s assistant.

British MPs to question future role of monarchy
Legislation
required to enact the marriage of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles will be seized upon by MPs determined to question the future
role of the monarchy. A Bill settling the new constitutional arrangement
is expected to be debated in Parliament to give the couple's wedding on April 8
full legal status.

Indian wins World Press Photo Award
Amsterdam, February 11
A gripping colour photograph of a woman grieving next to the body of a dead relative, by Indian photographer Arko Datta of Reuters, today won the World Press Photo Award for 2004.

World Press Photo of the year 2004 won by
Indian photographer Arko Datta of the Reuters news agency shows a woman in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, mourning the death of a relative who was killed in the Asian tsunami catastrophe.
— AP/PTI

Video

Bobby
Jindal speaks about Indo-American ties and his plans for his country.(28k,
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Quetta, February 11
More than 130 persons have been killed across Pakistan in the heaviest rains in 16 years that caused a dam to burst, provincial officials said today.

Authorities rushed thousands of troops to join rescue operations in the remote south-western Baluchistan province, where some 20,000 people had been affected by the floods, said Mr Raziq Bugti, a government spokesman in the province said.

Officials said at least 60 persons died last night after Baluchistan’s Shadikor dam burst, sweeping through villages near the coastal town of Pasni. More than 40 more died from heavy rains in other parts of the province.

Some reports said hundreds were missing, though officials said there were no reliable estimates.

“Relief operations are in full swing. Army, paramilitary rangers and coast guards are trying to pull out people stranded in the flood water,” Mr Bugti told Reuters.

Officials said at least five villages, home to around 7,000 people, had been submerged by waters that poured through the 35 metre high and 300 metre long embankment of the dam, constructed just two years ago.

“Sixty bodies have been recovered n the Pasni area. They were all killed due to the dam burst,” provincial minister Sher Jan Baluch told Reuters.

Mr Baluch said 4,000 army and paramilitary troops were involved in the relief efforts.

The navy was also called in to help, with at least three bridges along the main coastal highway washed away, and 11 helicopters flew over flooded areas to help rescue trapped people. — Reuters

London, February 11
Short of suspending Pakistan from its Councils once again, the Commonwealth today asked President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish one of the two offices he held — army chief and presidentship.

“The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) expressed its serious concern and regret that President Musharraf had not met his commitment to relinquish his role as Chief of Army Staff by December 31, 2004,” Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon told newsmen after two days’ deliberations of the group here. —
PTI

Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif discussed the political situation in Pakistan and maintained that the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the Pakistan People's Party, as the country's major democratic parties, shared great responsibility for taking the country out of the present crisis.

The two sides reiterated that real democracy and the 1973 Constitution must be restored as soon as possible through fair, free and transparent elections under an independent and effective Election Commission.

Both sides agreed to cooperate and work at every level to achieve this goal.

Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif affirmed their faith in the collective will of the people and assured them that they would make a fresh start for ushering in a new era of democracy based on mutual respect, tolerance and human rights, protecting rights of women, minorities and under-privileged and promoting prosperity of all people without discrimination.

They resolved that they would not act in any way that would help non-democratic forces to negate the 1973 Constitution and deprive the people of their democratic rights.

They further resolved to continue the struggle for the supremacy of Parliament with federal parliamentary character, independence of judiciary, rule of law, freedom of the media and the will of the people.

They called upon all the political forces in the country to agree on a 'Charter of Democracy' which should become the cornerstone for an end to dictatorships for all times to come and differences on policies and other issues should be set aside for achieving this common and universal goal.

Both sides agreed to form working groups to outline specific measures and reforms for implementing the charter of democracy.

Later, Mr Sharif hosted a luncheon in honour of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari, which was joined by his family members. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Capt Safdar and Ahsan Iqbal were present on the occasion.

Ms Bhutto was to leave for Makkah on Thursday afternoon to perform Umrah. After offering Friday prayers in Makkah, she was expected back in Jeddah.

Although there had been some reports suggesting that Ms Bhutto had seen Mr Sharif when she was last in Jeddah in 2002, yet both sides emphasised there was no meeting between the two then. Hence, Thursday's meeting could be the first after Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1998 and Mr Sharif's government toppled in October 1999.

Beijing, February 11
China yesterday said it is willing to “unswervingly” push forward the friendly and mutually beneficial cooperative ties with India.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing stated this at a meeting with Indian Ambassador Nalin Surie during which they discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of common concern and
reviewed the preparations for Premier Wen Jiabao’s upcoming visit to India.

They also conveyed regards and good wishes from the two countries’ leaders to each other, Chinese Foreign Ministry sources said here.

“China is willing to unswervingly push forward the friendly-neighbour and mutually beneficial cooperative ties with India,” Li was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
— PTI

New York, February 11
US playwright Arthur Miller, one of the giants of American literature, has died, his assistant said today.
He was 89.

“Miller passed away at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, last night at 9:17 pm of congenital heart failure,” said Ms Julia Bolus, the playwright’s assistant.

“Miller’s 1949 play “Death of a Salesman,” is considered a classic of 20th century drama and is studied in schools around the world. His left-wing political views made him a target of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s.

Miller emerged out of the Depression in the 1930s to write social dramas with the power of Greek tragedy. His private life was equally dramatic, notably his doomed marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
— Reuters

Legislation
required to enact the marriage of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles will be seized upon by MPs determined to question the future
role of the monarchy.

A Bill settling the new constitutional arrangement is expected to be debated in Parliament to give the couple's wedding on April 8 full legal status.

Although pro-republican MPs have signalled that they do not intend to oppose the marriage they will want to use any debate on the Constitution to bring public scrutiny to the rising costs of the royal family.

MPs may press for amendments to the Bill that could include proposals for reducing the civil list, the taxpayers' contribution to maintaining the Queen and, through her, her immediate family.

Others may want to see a new constitutional settlement that gives women and non-Anglicans equal rights to the throne. House of Commons sources said that without legislation Mrs Parker Bowles may inadvertently benefit from the complex civil list provisions.

Earlier this week it emerged that Prince Charles paid himself (pounds sterling) 11.9 million last year out of his private wealth, the historic estates of the Duchy of Cornwall. Mrs Parker Bowles receives a personal allowance of (pounds sterling) 130,000 a year from the Duchy to cover her living costs.

But her claim on Prince Charles's vast wealth will have already been settled by what one lawyer described ‘‘as one of the biggest pre-nuptial contracts’’ ever signed.

Prince Charles will be mindful of the protracted (pounds sterling) 17 million divorce settlement he finally agreed with Princess Diana's lawyers.

The couple's lawyers will have also redrawn both their wills to take account of the new constitutional position. Part of the new arrangements will consider a (pounds sterling) 2 million life insurance policy on which Mrs Parker Bowles is the sole beneficiary.

Under the terms of this insurance trust set up by Prince Charles, Mrs Parker Bowles is provided with a income of around (pounds sterling) 150,000 a year. She cannot get at the capital which, at her death, would revert to Charles's sons William and Harry.

Alan Williams (Lab Swansea West), who earlier this week, in an attack on Prince Charles's finances, said "he wins the national lottery every year", declined to comment.

After her marriage Camilla Parker Bowles will become the most senior female royal behind the Queen.

The new bill will give Camilla the title HRH Duchess of Cornwall which grants her precedence within the Royal Family as the wife of the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. But unlike her sister-in-law the Princess Royal, her importance solely relies upon marriage. She will have no constitutional role but will be invited to state and national occasions at the Queen's invitation.

When Charles becomes King, she will be known as Princess Consort, a title similar to the one last commonly used by Queen Victoria to describe her beloved Prince Albert.

Amsterdam, February 11
A gripping colour photograph of a woman grieving next to the body of a dead relative, by Indian photographer Arko Datta of Reuters, today won the World Press Photo Award for 2004. The image — in which the woman is captured wailing on the ground with her palms facing the heavens — was shot in Cuddalore on December 28, two days after a devastating undersea earthquake and tsunami struck the Indian Ocean region.

Datta’s photo is “graphic, historical and starkly emotional,” jury member Kath Ryan, a photo editor with the New York Times Magazine, said in a statement. Datta will receive a cash prize of US $ 12,700 and a new camera.

The winning picture was selected from a record 4,266 photographers from 123 countries who entered 69.190 images in 10 categories.
— AP

BRIEFLY

Chinese museum in Guinness book
Beijing: A Chinese museum has entered a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having 10,008 dinosaur egg fossils, the largest collection in the world. The first group of fossils in the city were discovered in 1996 by children playing on a building site. “Since then, local residents have helped increase the collection and discovered fossils of a dinosaur and its footprints,” Huang Don, head of the museum, said.
— PTI

Lord Paul to be honoured
London: In recognition of his excellence in the field of manufacturing industry, NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul will be conferred upon with an honorary doctorate degree in engineering by Punjab Technical University. The degree would be awarded to him during the 3rd regular convocation of the university on February 17 at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education Research, Mohali, S.K. Salwan, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said.
— PTI

Judge’s order to Kidman
SYDNEY: Nicole Kidman and two freelance photographers accused of stalking the Oscar-winning actress should try to resolve their problems out of court like “intelligent people”, a judge said on Friday.
— AP

Gibson’s film to be relaunched
LOS ANGELES: Hollywood mogul Mel Gibson, will release a new, low-violence version of his 2004 surprise mega-hit ‘The Passion of Christ’ next month, ‘Daily Variety’ reported. The star, dubbed Hollywood’s most powerful figure since the huge success of the low-budget, graphically gory film, is trimming five to six minutes of violent scenes ahead of the film’s March 11 reappearance on the US screens.
— AFP